Messrs. Newton and Smith, the contractors for the western portion of the S.E. Company’s line had arranged to issue tickets to their workmen instead of money, and to exchange them for cash with such tradesmen as received the tickets, on the understanding that five per cent. would be deducted when the exchange was made. By this arrangement the local tradesmen were protected from the competition of “Tommy shops” on the works, and the system appeared to be perfectly satisfactory. The present writer, who was then a draper and clothier in Norman road, received a great many pounds worth of such tickets, and one noticeable feature in his dealings with the navvies was the purchase by them of smart trimmed caps for their wives. To their credit, it may be said, that upon the whole, they displayed very good taste, and never objected to a reasonable price. The tickets were of different values and were ingeniously printed and signed; but on one occasion, some hundreds of the shilling[1] tickets were counterfeited and got in to circulation. As soon as the fraud was detected, tradesmen were cautious against taking the forged tickets, and a fresh batch, with new devices, was issued. There was at the same time a number of spurious half-crowns and sovereign[2]s in circulation. As regards the counterfeit tickets, if I remember rightly, the loss upon them was equally borne by the contractors and tradesmen. Messrs, Newton and Smith gained the respect of the inhabitants, as did also their secretary, Mr. Fisher, and their partner or sub-contractor, Mr. Munday. The after history of these gentlemen at St. Leonards and elsewhere is somewhat curious and instructive, and may find a place further on for description. Their contract proceeded, briskly, and by the middle of September the completed western entrance to the Hastings tunnel and eastern entrance to the St. Leonards tunnel as viewed from where is now the Gensing or Warrior-square station, were looked upon as creditable pieces of brickwork. A small shaft had been sunk through 30 feet of solid sand-rock; and, owing to the many springs that had been tapped in excavating the tunnels, the arched brickwork was to be lined with grooved galvanised iron to carry the water to the bottom, where a channel was made for its exit. The first permanent rail was laid in the St. Leonards tunnel on the 16th of October.
Waterworks
Whilst writing of the numerous springs that somewhat impeded the work in the tunnel, I am reminded that the intercepting or diverting them did not appear to affect the several wells in the Magdalen parish from which numerous families were supplied. Those, for instance in Lavatoria, Shepherd street, North street, Crystal square, Western road, -
- ↑ An explanation of old currency and coinage may be found at the following website Pre-decimal currency, accessdate: 16 June 2022
- ↑ An explanation of old currency and coinage may be found at the following website Pre-decimal currency, accessdate: 16 June 2022
